A pot of soup
If western Hunan’s Chinese New Year flavor lies in smoke and salt, then in southern Fujian it is steeped in steam rising from a pot of soup. For Hong Zhixiong, a 55-year-old chef who grew up in Xiamen, Fujian province, Spring Festival is inseparable from a bubbling broth set over a charcoal stove.
As a child, his favorite part of Spring Festival was watching family members return home from afar and gather around the fire, sharing one pot of soup together.
“Fujian ingredients naturally bring together mountain and sea,” Hong recalls. “In our Chinese New Year soup, besides chicken and duck, we add local seafood. That freshness stays with you for life.”
It is eaten in a particular order. Once half the soup is gone, seafood and dried bean curd sticks are added. Leafy greens must wait until the very end. Added too early, they dull the soup’s clarity and disrupt its balance.
Today, for Hong, who is the executive chef of Fujian Restaurant in Beijing, freshness remains the guiding principle of his cooking. His soups are built on restraint rather than excess, where the natural sweetness of seafood mingles with the deep, savory richness of meat, amino acids from each ingredient weaving together to create a broth layered with flavor and memory.
Mushrooms add warmth and depth, while seasoning is kept to a minimum — sometimes even salt is omitted. “The seafood already has everything the soup needs,” Hong says. “That’s how my parents did it too.”
In his childhood home, snow clams were often added near the end. Their coin-shaped shells symbolized wealth and good fortune, making them a must-have for the Chinese New Year’s Eve table.
Beyond soup, Xiamen households also rely on five-spice meat rolls to complete the festive spread. Wrapped tightly in tofu skin, they symbolize unity and togetherness. Each family has its own version: pork mixed with spices and water chestnuts for crunch, or shrimp added for extra sweetness. When guests arrive, the rolls are fried again until golden and crisp. “And on the first day of the Chinese New Year, we eat mianxian,” Hong adds, “l(fā)ong noodles in hot broth — meant to bring peace and longevity.”
